1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oral care compositions, and, more particularly, to a polymer for use in such compositions which has a reactive group therein covalently bonded to a bactericide, flavorant and/or essential oil compound, which bond is hydrolyzable in aqueous solution to slowly release the compound into the composition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Oral care compositions such as dentifrices, denture adhesives, buccal tapes and chewing gums usually contain one or more active compounds including bacteriocidal compounds, e.g. triclosan or thymol; flavorants, e.g. menthol, thymol and essential oils. However, these active components are released immediately into the mouth, and, accordingly, are not available in the composition after use.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an oral care composition which includes a polymer which can be used as a delivery system to slowly release an active compound over a prolonged period of time, thus extending the usefulness of such active material in such compositions.
These and other objects and features of the invention will be made apparent from the following description of the invention.
What is described herein is an oral care composition which includes a polymer having a reactive group covalently bonded to a bactericide, flavorant and/or essential oil compound, which bond is hydrolyzable in aqueous solution to slowly release said compound in said composition.
Suitable reactive groups include an acid, carboxylate, amide or ester. Suitable polymers which include said reactive group include acrylate, maleate, fumarate, vinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl caprolactam, methacrylic acid, vinyl acetate, vinyl amide, alkyl vinyl ether, maleic anhydride, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylic acid, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide, and alkylene polymers, and copolymers and terpolymers thereof.
Typical oral care compositions are buccal tape, denture adhesive, dentifrice, anti-plaque, mouthwash and chewing gum compositions.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided herein polymers containing covalently-bound active components which can be used as delivery and release systems in oral care. Active components, such as bacteriocidal compounds (e.g. triclosan, thymol) or flavorants (e.g. menthol, thymol), or essential oils can be bound to such polymers by acid, carboxylate, ester or amide groups that can undergo aqueous hydrolysis in the mouth. Such polymers can be made by (co)polymerization of monomers containing the active compounds (e.g. acrylate, maleate, fumarate) with other monomers such as vinylpyrrolidone, (meth)acrylic acid, vinyl acetate, and the like; by esterification of carboxylic or anhydride side groups; or by transesterification of ester groups in a polymer (e.g. Gantrez(copyright) ANxe2x80x94maleic-anhydride-methyl vinyl ether, and Gantrez(copyright) ES (the half-ester of maleic-anhydride-methyl vinyl ether), vinylpyrrolidone-maleic anhydride copolymer, acrylic acid-maleic anhydride copolymer etc.) Polymeric products of such polymers and triclosan, menthol and thymol are preferred embodiments of the invention, which provide delivery systems in oral care compositions such as buccal tapes, denture adhesives, chewing gum and dentifrices.